AstraGuard Rapid Detection of Organic Pollutants

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

Naturally occurring and human-influenced pollution incidents can lead to an increase in harmful levels of organic material in surface waters, creating a significant threat to equipment and water quality in treatment plants dependant on such sources.

AstraGuard rapidly and continuously measures the UV absorbance of water at 254nm and gives an instant indication of organic pollution, much faster than other methods, such as TOC, COD, DOC and BOD, which were primarily developed for laboratory analyses. With no moving parts and a rugged and durable optical system AstraGuard also requires little maintenance and has been proven as an intake protection device at many locations in the UK.

As well as the organics indicated at 254nm AstraGuard also outputs the absorbance at up to three other wavelengths enabling background colour and turbidity to be monitored as well. Enhanced sensitivity is offered by the long path length flow cell that has windows which are easily de-mounted for cleaning. The fibre optic link from the flow cell to the instrument enables flexibility in location and ease of access to all parts of the system.

Stand alone logging or control through SCADA/PLC systems is supported, following a simple set-up of sampling rate and wavelengths, continuous, unattended operation can be instigated